I had bookmarked Gazelle Sharmahd’s tweet on Sept. 8 in which she wryly noted that everyone is now an “expert” in hostage negotiations and is advising Israel what to do regarding its remaining hostages.
Little good these experts did when it came to her father.
I can’t recall exactly how I was put in touch with Gazelle in 2022, but she made an indelible impression. I interviewed her about her father Jamshid “Jimmy” Sharmahd who, while traveling for work, was awaiting a flight in Dubai to return home to his family in California—but was kidnapped by Iranian agents and ferried back to the land in which he was born.
There he was jailed, tried and then sentenced to death. A mock trial, mind you.
And there he stayed in jail—without access to a private lawyer, medication and communication with his family, they said—was tortured and, ultimately, sentenced to death.
Gazelle plead for governments to pressure the Iranian regime to release her father. Jimmy was a citizen of Germany and a resident of the United States. But neither countries’ negotiations to get him out was successful.
Well, it might be more accurate to say it was “overlooked,” Gazelle said.
In the last few weeks, as Israel and Iran intersect and attacks intensify, I had been thinking of Gazelle and her tireless campaign to draw attention to her father’s case. Then on Tuesday, my jaw dropped when I opened an unrelated email and the headline read: JIMMY SHARMAHD, RIP.
“Yesterday, the brave German-American human rights activist Jamshid (Jimmy) Sharmahd was executed by the regime in Tehran following a sham trial on trumped-up charges.”
It couldn’t be. I checked Gazelle’s Twitter account and there was nothing. So I messaged Gazelle.
Her response was full of power and purpose:
“Thank you so much dear Nicole. Please promise me to not let them get away with this. Promise me to stand strong by our side and demand that the corruption US and German governments explain why they left my dad to die for 4 years. Promise me to demand that they investigate what happened and how my dad was killed. Promise me that we demand they bring his body back to us … promise me to continue my dad’s path for freedom.”
After the execution, Germany announced it will close all Iranian consulates within its borders but permit the embassy to remain operational.
For more information, see the news here.
Read this article from my interview with Gazelle from two years ago.